A contestant has committed suicide during filming of a Big Brother-meets-Take Me Out style reality TV show in South Korea.

The 29-year-old woman was being filmed in a matchmaking show called Jjak - The Mate - when she hanged her self as cameras rolled.

The show pits 10 men and women together in a house, where their every move is filmed for a week, as they try to find a partner after taking part in various challenges.

But the girl, only identified by her last name Chun, was found hanged during the latest filming shoot in a house on the South Korean southern island of Jeju.

The tried and tested format, a mixture of Western reality shows and intense south-east Asian passion and attitudes, is broadcast by SBS, one of South Korea’s top three TV stations and watched by millions.

Ms Chun was found with a note saying she did not want to live any more.

The show as been accused of bullying and humiliation in the past, by alienating contestants who do not end up with a partner and then being forced to eat alone shunned by their so-called “rejection.”

But Ms Chun is said to have been anguished by the way she was being portrayed as a “ loner” and a “tragic girl” by producers to beef-up the matched couples, according to local reports.

She had told her mother she would rather leave South Korea than have the show aired on television.

SBS channel cancelled the programme set to be broadcast on Wednesday night, and apologised to Ms Chun’s family.

But they refused to accept any direct responsibility for her suicide.

South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, with an average of 33.5 people per 100,000 taking their lives in 2010, equal to nearly 50 suicides a day.